Ribbon-shifting mechanism.



Patented Sept. 3, l90l.

- No. sagasz.

C. SPIRO.

RIBBON SHIFTING MECHANISM.

(Application filed Oct. 23, 1900.)

(No mom.)

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

CHARLES srIRo, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

RIBBON-SHIFTING MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 681,892, dated September 3, 1901.

Original applioationfiled July 27-, 1900, Serial No. 25,030. Divided and this application filed October 23,1900. Serial No. 84,046- (N'o model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

in the county of New York, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ribbon-Shifting Mechanism, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to type-writers, and particularly to an automatic device for alternately winding the ribbon from one spool to the other.

The invention has for its object to provide a simply-constructed accurately-operating rib from the frame A by suitable brackets, as

bon-shifting device for the purpose of automatically winding the ribbon alternately from one spool onto the other.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved particular construction of shifting and locking lever which shall be accurate in operation and economical in construction.

Other objects and advantages of the inven tion will hereinafter appear in the following description, and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is an elevation of the ribbon-spools and their connecting and driving mechanisms as they appear at the Fig. 2 is an end elevarespectively seated in a bracket W the pivot rear of the machine. tion of the parts shown at the left in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan, with parts in section, of the mechanism on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a'detail perspective of the ribbon-controlled lever. Fig. 5 is a similar view of a latch for said lever. the shifting and locking lever. Fig. 7 is a detail elevation of the shifting and locking lever in a locking position, and Fig. 8 is a Fig. 6 is a detail perspective of.

application to any form of type-writer mech- Be it known that 1, CHARLES SPIRo, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York,

ing the transverse ribbon-spool-driving shaft V, the usual miter-gears V meshing with the companion miters V on the shafts of the usual ribbon-spools V These parts are supported shown. In rear of each of the beveled gears V there is at each end of shaft V a grooved collar V and beyond this groove is a camface V on the collar, which extends for a portion of the periphery thereof. Adjacent to the cam V is a double-armed lever V (see Fig. 6,) the lateral arm V of which carries a roller V while the other arm V of which lever extends beneath the collar and is adapted to cooperate with the groove above mentioned. A spring V is secured to the free end of the arm V and projects beyond the pivot V of said lever. Directly above its pivot the lever V has a projection V with which a latch W, Fig. 5, cooperates. The latch W and the lever V are mounted on pivots X and V X serving not only for the latch W, but for a ribbon-controlled lever X. The latch W has a pivot-hole W and a lateral projection W which extends over the upper edge of the lever X and is adapted to rest thereon. This latch is also provided with a lateral lockingarm W at its end, which arm engages and locks lever V in an elevated position by contact with the projection V thereof. At one side of its pivot X the leverXis formed with a downwardly-proj ecting arm X against which the spring V of the double-armed lever V rests under tension when the arm X of the ribbon-lever X is raised by the ribbon upon the spool. At the opposite end of the lever X there is a lateral arm X which is designed to rest upon the ribbon in the spool V.

Now by reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that the ribbon-spool at the left is out ofconnection with the beveled gear V while that at the right is in connectionwith the a'dja cent beveled gear, the arm V lying beneath the collar V so that the spool at the right is winding on and the spool at the left is paying off ribbon. As the paying off of the ribbon continues the extension X of the lefthand lever X gradually falls, and in doing so it raises the arm X releasing the spring V from tension, and in time the extension X of the lever X strikes the lateral projection 7 of the latch W and raises the latch and its locking-arm V87 from the point or projection V of the double-armed lever V which when released from the latch and from the tension of the spring V falls by gravity, so as to lower the roller V into contact with the cam V upon the collar. (See Fig. 8.) At the same time the arm V at the left is lowered out of the grooved collar V which it has occupied, (see left of Fig. 1,) and during the rotation of the longitudinalshaft V the roller V previously held above the cam, in time falls into contact with the cam V, which movement removes the arm V at the left from the groove, and as the rotation continues the cam acting on the roller throws the shaft to the left and brings miter-gear V into mesh with miter-gear V Previous to this shifting action the roller V, at the right in Fig. 1, is raised out of the path of the collar' V to permit such action, and after this shifting the spool at the left becomes the windingspool for the time being and until the same operation occurs by the arrival at or near the end of the ribbon upon the opposite spool. After the above action of the roller and the cam has taken place it brings the grooved collar V at the right end of the shaft V into the same vertical plane as the arm V of the double-armed lever, which by the tension of the spring V, caused by arm X is brought up into said groove and the roller V raised above the path of cam V this locking the beveled gear at the left of Fig. 1 in mesh with its companion, where it remains until the operation thus described is repeated at the right spool in Fig. 1. While arm V is in a groove at one end of shaft V, the arm V at the opposite end of the shaft lies beneath the collar V (See Figs. 7 and 8.)

. It is apparent that many of the details of construction herein shown and described may be varied to a great extent by the exercise of such mere mechanical skill as is possessed by persons conversant in the construction and operation of machines of this character.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of. the United States, is

1. In a type-writer, ribbon-shifting mechanism comprising a spool-operating shaft, a grooved cam-faced collar on said spool-operating shaft, and a double-armed lever, one arm of which is adapted to enter said groove and the other arm of which is adapted to coact with said cam-face of the collar substan= tially as specified.

2. In a ribbon-shifting mechanism, spoolrotating gears, a lever provided with an extension adapted to rest upon the surface of the ribbon on the spool and pivoted to a fixed part of the machine, in combination with a double-armed lever adapted to move and lock the spool-rotating gears, and connections whereby said functions of the double-armed lever are performed; substantially as specified.

3. In a ribbon-shifting mechanism, a spooloperating shaft, operating gears for said shaft, a cam on said shaft, and a springpressed double-armed lever having one arm adapted to contact with a grooved collar on the spool-shaft for lockingthe spool-operating gears in mesh, and the other arm being arranged to contact with the cam on said shaft for shifting oneof said gears; substan* tially as specified.

4:. A double-armed lever adapted to embrace a spool-driving shaft of a ribbon-shifting mechanism, and provided with a spring and with a projection, in combination with means for retaining and releasing said projection, and means cooperating with said lever for shifting and locking said shaft in a shifted position; substantially as specified.

5. Inaribbon-shifting mechanism, thecom bination with a ribbon-spool, a driving-shaft therefor, a pivoted ribbon-lever, one end of which is located over the spool and the other end of which is provided with an arm, of a double-armed lever, a spring carried thereby and projecting into the path of the arm of the first-mentioned lever, and means for shifting said ribbon-lever to place said spring under tension; substantially as specified.

6. In a ribbon-shiftin g mechanism, the com bination with a ribbon-spool, a driving-shaft therefor, a pivoted lever having an arm arranged to be operated by the ribbon on the spool, a catch pivoted to oscillate in a plane parallel to the ribbon-lever, adouble shifting and locking lever, and connections between the catch and the ribbon-lever whereby the former is released bya change in the diame ter of the ribbon upon the spool, substantially as specified.

7. In a ribbon-shifting mechanism, a ribbon-spool, means for operating a spool-driving gear, and a lever adapted to be operated by a ribbon upon said spool and pivoted to a fixed part and having a projection beyond its pivot, in combination with a latch pivoted in a-vertical plane parallel to the projection and having a lateral arm extending over the projection of the lever, whereby a diminution of the ribbon upon the spool causes the ribbonlever to release the latch; substantially as specified.

8. In a ribbon-shifting mechanism, the combination of each spool and its gears, with the transverse shaft carrying one of the mitergears at each spool, a collar ateach end of the shaft having a cam-face and a groove, a double-armed lever located at each end of said shaft, one arm of each lever being in the plane of the said groove when the gear at the opposite end of the shaft is in mesh with its pinion on the spool, and connections for antomatically removing said arm of said lever from the groove at one end of the shaft and throwing the corresponding arm of the lever at the opposite end of the shaft into the groove at the other end of the shaft when the shaft and gears are shifted from one spool to the other; substantially as specified.

9. In a ribbon-shifting mechanism, a ribbon-spool-driving shaft, a pivoted doublearmed shaft-lever having rigid shifting and locking arms and a latch-receiving projection, and means cooperating with said lever for shifting and locking said spool-driving shaft; substantially as specified.

10. In aribbon-shifting mechanism, a shaft shifting and locking lever comprising an arm carrying a roller for cooperation with a cam, a grooved collar, an arm for cooperation with a locking-groove in said collar, a spring for moving the lever in one direction, means for its pivotal support, a latch and a lug or projection for the reception and operation of said latch; substantially as specified.

11. In a ribbon-shifting mechanism, the combination with a ribbon-spool and its driving-shaft of a double-armed shifting and looking lever having a latch-receiving projection,

a pivoted latch cooperating therewith, and a ribbon-lever extending from a ribbon-spool to said latch for operating the latch, and means cooperating with said lever for shifting and locking a spool-driving shaft; substantially as specified.

12. The combination withthe frame of a type-writer and a ribbon-spool and its driving-shaft, of a depending bracket arranged parallel with the spool-shaft of the machine, a ribbon-lever pivoted to the bracket and having a lateral extension projecting over the spool-shaft, a latch mounted on the pivot of the ribbon-lever and having an arm projecting over said lever at a point beyond the pivot, a double-armed lever mounted in the same vertical plane as the ribbon-lever with one of its arms above and the other below the transverse ribbon-spool-driving shaft of the machine, and a spring extending from the lower arm of the double-armed lever to a point on the ribbon-lever below its pivot; substantially as specified.

13. As a means for shifting and locking the transverse ribbon-shaft of a type-writer, a grooved, cam-faced collar secured to said shaft, and means mounted on a fixed part of the machine and projecting beyond said shaft and adapted to cooperate with the cam and the groove of said collar thereon; substantially as specified.

14. As a means for shifting the transverse ribbon-shaft of a type-writer, a lever pivoted to a fixed part of a machine and extending over said shaft, and carrying upon said ex tension means for cooperating with a cam, in combination with a collar upon said shaft having a cam-face limited to less than the en tire circumference of the collar, whereby the said lever may contact with the periphery of the collar until the cam-face thereof is reached in the rotation of said collar; substantially as specified.

15. In a ribbon shifting mechanism, a grooved collar having a cam in a portion of one side thereof, in combination with a two-' armed lever, one arm of which is mounted to be beneath the collar throughout the periphery and the other arm of which is provided with a cam cooperating device adapted to ride upon the periphery of the collar throughout a portion of its periphery, these parts being duplicated at each end of the said shaft, whereby when the cam and upper arm of said lever have performed their function at one end of said shaft the lower arm of the double armed lever is in the plane of and enters the groove in the collar at the opposite end of said shaft; substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES SPIRO.

Witnesses:

H. LESINSKY, EDw. E. J ONES. 

